The growth and deregulation of the telephone industry over the past several years has given birth to hundreds of commercial long distance carriers. Presently, more than 450 long distance carriers operate in the United States, with an average of more than 30 of such carriers serving each state. The resulting competition has caused long distance carriers to offer specific rate plans to gain market share. These rate plans include special pricing for various calling patterns during specific time periods. Long distance subscribers (i.e., consumers and businesses) have been overwhelmed these often confusing rate plans, each promising big discounts and cost savings. Typically, most subscribers use a single major carrier (e.g., AT&T, MCI, Sprint) for long distance telephone service. For example, more than 90% of consumers presently use one of the three major long distance carriers. Few subscribers know that hundreds of smaller long distance carriers exist. Moreover, few subscribers know how to get access to the superior rates offered by these carriers, or that they can select each carrier on a call-by-call basis.
Various systems aimed at providing subscribers with access to multiple carriers on a call-by-call basis, i.e., least cost call routing systems, have been described in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,122,308, 4,585,094, 4,751,728, 5,289,536, 5,400,395, 5,420,914, 5,425,084, 5,425,085, 5,473,630, 5,519,769, 5,553,124, and 5,799,072 describe least cost call routing devices and methods. To date, however, the technology described in these patents has not resulted in a least cost call routing system of widespread commercial acceptance with household and small office/home office consumers.